Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-01-06
for you. and now you see the ccnse-


and his sister-in-law. always regarding
her husbands younger brothers as so
many harpies, anxious to fall upon
any stray crumbs that fell from her
table, was not likely to welcome an in
valid, who might want months and
months of nursing. possibly only to die
in the end. A good servant did all he
could for Major Priestly; but servant
is not much when that is all one has to
rely upon for sympathy, conversation
and any thing else that is wanted to
while away the long. weary days and
nights of illness. 1t was now Decem-
Der. At Drayton. where the eye rests
contentedly on miles of blue-green fir
trees, whose only difference in winter
is an added shade of dusk in the dis
lance, there was nothing to remind
any one that Christmas was not more
than a fortnight Of. Yet so it was.
and Major Priestly felt more melan-
choly than ever, and looked back re-
gretfully to past Chrls,mases at the
Christmases when ne and
Edith had been all and all to each
other; they had spent their time in
decorating the church, hanging Christ
mas trees with ornament for the Sum
day-school children, and in keeping
peace between all those who came
forward to help them.
As Major Priestly remembered the
date-lying in his long chair facing the
sea, that literally cleaned like tur-
quiose under a cloudless sky, with the
Isle of Wight rising like snowy cloud
just on the left of the horizon, and. the
chimes glittering redly in the sunshine
the view seemed to fade, and he saw
instead Priestly church and the heaps
of prickly evergreens, and could smell
the various mingled odor of damp.
crushed leaves and holly berries that
was always connected in his mind with
Christmas. Could he not well recol-
lect, too, how he and Edith had spent
hours on their knees, sticking gorgeous
red and blue and gold letters on
squares of cardboard, that, when COM
pleted. should form text to go round
the ugly, dark-brown galleries? He
smiled to himself as he remembered
how the letters would curl up in a
sticky festoon on the ends of his fin
gers; how crooked they got, and how,
finally. when it was really done and
duly arranged in heaps in the aisle
ready for erection, the old clerk took
advantage of their temporary absence
at luncheon to prepare surprise for
them; had put up the text just as the
letters came, anyhow. and by the time
they had returned had completed sem
fences that would have defied the clev-
crest hand at solving 'buried sem
fences" that ever won a prize in any
society journal of the present day.
Perhaps the thought of the old days
had somewhat obscured Major Priest
ly's generally acute senses, but he
could have declared that he heard
Edith's voice distinctly as he awoke
from his half-dreamy state to recog-
nize Drayton. and heard her say: 1.-The
other side of the chine will do best, Du-
gaId; then we shall not be in the way
of that poor gentleman"
lnvoIuntarily he closed his eyes once
more, ana lay very quiet. Then he
opened them again, and saw ON his
right hand the fair, oval face, and
waves of brown. soft hair that he
could never forget while life lasted. as
belonging to his lost love. Older a
little; yes. certainly; but otherwise the
Edith of eight years ago sat there IN
changed. The old, old feeling surged
over his breast, and he knew in a mo-
ment that the love he had felt for her
was only asleep, and had risen.
stronger than ever, from its repose, to
assert its empire over him once more.
He watched her carefully. noted the
calm, sweet countenance it rested him
to look at, saw how her dextrous
fingers arranged her companion chair
and rugs in the warmest place, 'front.'
ing the very prettlest part of the view.
And Major Priestly thought testify how
he had vainly tried to get Stokes to
put his chair in a position that would
enable him just to catch that reflection
of the sun on the cleaning ssnd-banks;
and had as vainly told him that his
rug would slip off him, and leave his
feet exposed to the air. if it were not
tucked under them properly.
1t did not take many hours to
make him profoundly abhor Edith
companion. He could not make out
in the least, who he could be. None
of the brothers names would return
to his mind; but he felt certain, had
one been named Dugald. he must have
such an uncommon cog
Then the idea flashed into his
mind, remaining there obstinately:
Edith was married. and this long, ILL
looking invalid was her husband In
the meantime, Edith had been gazing
at Major Priestly, and had
begun to think in her turn that she was
dreaming. Since her lovers marriage
she had never heard of him. She had
an illness on learning his perfidy, that
left her weak for months, and after
that no one had cared to mention his
name before her. She knew he had
children, but no mention of his wife,
and subsequent death had
ever reached her ears, and she believed
him to DE happy. well and prosperous.
several thousand miles from the quiet,
pine-clad shores of Drayton.
When she recognized him, her first
impulse was to rise from her seat and
go any where, no matter in what di-
rection, SO that it led her from his inn
mediate presence. But in few min